Fall River School Committee welcomes new face

Incumbent Joseph Martins finished first with 6,433 votes, newcomer Melissa Panchley came in second and incumbent Vice Chairman Mark Costa took third in the city’s School Committee race on Tuesday. “I am happy the Fall River voters again put their trust in me.. I think (they) recognize I do ...

Incumbent Joseph Martins finished first with 6,433 votes, newcomer Melissa Panchley came in second and incumbent Vice Chairman Mark Costa took third in the city’s School Committee race on Tuesday.

“I am happy the Fall River voters again put their trust in me.. I think (they) recognize I do have something to offer,” Martins said when reached by phone Tuesday night. “I can’t sit by and not consider all of the things I think the Fall River school system should go through.”

Martins, a former superintendent of the Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School District, said he is “going to continue the direction I started,” as he enters his fourth term.

Martins said he would continue to push for career awareness programs in the middle schools. He said a problem many middle school students have is that they struggle to see the “relevance” of what they’re being taught in schools.

“I will continue pushing for the career pathways,” Martins said, particularly at B.M.C. Durfee High School, where he says more funding could be realized if existing programs are retooled as vocational programs.

Martins promised to continue to be “a watchdog on the budget.”

“That’s not my money. It’s the taxpayers’ money,” Martins said. “But I’m going to treat it like my money. I am very frugal. I am looking forward to working with the School Committee and the school administration.”

Following Martins, Panchley received 6,218 votes and Costa had 5,957. With 5,184 votes, Paul Hart came in fourth, with 5,184 votes, Gabriel Andrade came in fifth, with 5,033 votes, and Robert Maynard sixth, with 4,487. All results are unofficial.

Costa, who will start his fifth term in January, said looking at elementary school class sizes and behavioral issues at the city’s middle schools would be among his priorities.

Costa called education “one of the most important issues in this city.” He said he would continue “making sure the investment is spent on kids in the classroom.

Costa said he would like to see discipline and other school safety issues resolved. “I think it’s something this committee needs to do, to come up with a plan to make sure schools are safe for all students,” Costa said.

Costa thanked voters for voting him into his fifth term. “Ten years is a long time,” he said.

Meanwhile, Panchley, a political newcomer and first time candidate, said she is looking forward to her inaugural term.

“I’m really excited,” said Panchley. “It’s something I thought about doing for a year. The time was right.”

“We thought stressing the ‘mom’s voice’ was important. That was the voice lacking in the current School Committee,” Panchley said of her campaign strategy.

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She said she was pleasantly surprised by the second-place finish, but attributed it to the efforts of her campaign. “We really tried to get to regular voters. A lot of door-knocking and phone-calling,” Panchley said.

Panchley said she would take a few weeks off, and then after Thanksgiving, “with the superintendent’s permission,” begin to visit schools. “To really get in there, see what’s really going on in the classroom. I think that’s going to be important. I have a lot of exposure to a few schools.”

Panchley said she would like to see firsthand the classroom sizes at elementary schools, as well as the middle school discipline issues that have come to light in recent weeks.

Though a returning School Committee member, Andrade will serve his first term as an elected member of the committee following his fifth-place finish. He said while campaigning outside James Tansey Elementary School early Tuesday evening, he felt confident about his chances for election.

Seventh-place vote-getter Lori DeSousa said she plans to run again, but “would campaign more,” in the next race. DeSousa said she ran with “the youth of the city” in mind.

Last-place finisher Desbiens, a perennial candidate for public office, seemed unfazed by the vote tally.